Vietnam and Beyond is a collection of wartime letters written home by Jim Markson from March 1967 to March 1968. Jim carried sadness and boxed-up memories from Vietnam. Perhaps, if it were not for the general divided and oppositional public opinion of the Vietnam War at that time, the soldiers returning home might have been able to open up and begin the healing process. Instead, those soldiers returning from Vietnam were afraid to tell their story. These fears bound each soldier to the other. We are very proud to embrace all veterans and include stories of veterans of all wars, including WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan to show the similarities of war and the soldier from one generation to another.

Vietnam and Beyond is Jenny La Sala’s third publication with My Family Compass written under her pen name of Ann Stone in 2012 and Comes A Soldier’s Whisper in 2013. Jim Markson and Jenny La Sala who were married for 14 years and divorced in 1987 have now collaborated to produce a powerful book in Vietnam and Beyond that combines Jim’s letters home from Vietnam with his later recollections. It was after Jim read his father-in-law’s letters written as a 101st Airborne paratrooper in WWII that he realized he shared many of the same sentiments. Jenny was not aware that Jim’s mother had saved every one of his letters written while he was deployed in Vietnam. Together, they have a story to tell, one that will resonate with many other veterans of war, past, present and future.

“One of the most insightful books written about Vietnam so far. The author brings you into the day to day life of his 366 days in Vietnam through both his personal letters and brief narrations. Jim unselfishly shares almost half the book with his fellow veterans who freely tell their stories of Vietnam and the shameful mistreatment they experienced when they rotated back to civilian life. Due to both PTSD and being publicly ostracized, many of these men began their hardest fights after the war. He takes you on a detailed journey that begins with him being a naive teenager joining the Air Force to being assigned in Saigon during the height of the Tet Offensive. This book serves as a real tribute not to war or the military but instead to the individual. It is a must read.” Review from Amazon.com.